In Which Peter Never Journeyed to Titan
by ThePhoenixGhirl
Summary: "Happy trails, kid. F.R.I.D.A.Y send him home." "Oh come on!" In which Peter never journeys to Titan and everything changes.
1. What if we, say, ruin the timeline?

"Pete you gotta let go. I'll catch you."

"But you said save the wizard!" Peter pulled his mask from his face, hoping the removal of the thin fabric would bring some oxygen into his lungs. He rasped, "I can't breathe."

"You're too high up." Came Tony's voice from over the com. "You're running out of air."

"That makes sense," he panted between words. Black closed in from the side of Peter's vision. His lungs ached and the back of his head was ready to split open. Despite his efforts to remain awake, Peter's eyes slipped shut of their own accord.

Peter knew he was falling, though it didn't register until the thousands of nanobots wrapped itself around his body. His suits heads-up display was in front of his eyes and oxygen was in his lungs. Immediately, Peter could move again. He latched onto the ship.

"Mr Stark, it smells like a new car in here!"

He stood up straight reading to help.

"Happy trails, kid. F.R.I.D.A.Y. send him home."

It wasn't until the parachute deployed and Peter hurtled towards the ground that he realised that Mr Stark wasn't letting Peter come with him.

"Oh come on!" He yelled. All he wanted to do was help. Was that too much to ask?

* * *

"Hey Karen, where am I?" Peter looked around the rolling cornfields where he had landed. A trail of flattened crops showed the path of where Peter had rolled after making impact with the ground. There was no road, no buildings, and besides a few buzzing insects, no life.

"The suit's location data says that you are in North Pennsylvania." Peter groaned at the AI's answer. He didn't know why he expected to land in New York. With how fast the earth spins, it's a wonder he didn't land in the middle of the Pacific. "You are quite a distance from home. Would you like me to alert May that you're going to be late for dinner?"

Peter shook his head. "Not yet." He contemplated how he was going to get home. There were no buildings or trees to swing from. He'd have to walk. "How far is the closest road?"

"Approximately ninety-three miles to the east is the Interstate 81 highway. Would you like the quickest path?"

Peter paled at the distant. It would take him days to walk that. "Can you patch me through to Happy, please?"

The AI agreed. "Contacting Mr Hogan."

It took three rings before Happy picked up. Ever since Coney Island, the two agreed that if Peter was just giving Happy an update he would use his phone. If he needed help, however, he was to use the suit's inbuilt phone system.

"You good kid?" Before Peter could continue to answer Happy continued. "Please don't tell me you're on that ship. I already have Pepper hounding me to get Tony back, I can't have your aunt screaming at me as well."

"No no no. I'm not. Well, not any more. I was. But Mr Stark sent me back. Oh god, I hope he's okay. All I was supposed to do-"

"Peter." Happy cut Peter off before his rambling could get out of hand.

"Right, right. Sorry." Peter took a breath. "I- I need someone to pick me up."

God, he felt so stupid. Happy was always going off at Mr Stark about how he wasn't his driver. He was the head of security at Stark Industries. Yet, here he was asking for a pick-me-up. He was sure Happy had other things to worry about.

Happy huffed down the phone. "Where are you?"

"North Pennsylvania." He phrased it as more of a question than a statement. "I can get Karen to send you the exact location."

"Don't bother. I'll get it." Happy went silent for a moment, presumably shouting orders to someone. "Stay where you are, I'll get a chopper out for you."

"Ok." He wasn't going to have to walk for thousands of miles. That was a relief. "Thanks, Happy."

* * *

On the way to school the next morning, Peter caught Ned up on what had happened. He explained how he chased aliens to rescue a wizard, how he almost exited the Earth's atmosphere, and how Mr Stark sent him back just as things were getting exciting.

Despite the disappointment of not being able to join Mr Stark on a mission, Peter was genuinely concerned for him. He had gone to space, a territory so unknown to humans that there was no way to know where Mr Stark was. When Peter had been picked up by a helicopter, he had heard Happy's frantic calls with SI personal trying to locate Tony. Once he'd left Earth's vicinity—out of the range of Stark Industries many satellites—it became impossible to find where Ironman had gone.

With Ned trailing behind him, Peter reached into his locker to retrieve his books for the next period.

"I can't believe you almost went to space," Ned exclaimed in a hushed voice. "That must have been so cool."

Peter smiled and nodded. Ned didn't need to know about those helpless few moments when Peter was sure he would suffocate in the thin air.

As he pulled his textbook out of his locker a painful sensation stabbed Peter in the back of his head. Goosebumps littered Peter's arm and it took every ounce of self-control to not look around in panic.

_Danger! Danger! Danger!_ His spidersense screamed.

Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

"Hey Ned," Peter turned slowly, trying to remain calm. If Peter panicked, then Ned would panic.

When Peter turned, he was met with a cloud of ash. Then the screams began. Peter looked down the hallway frantically. Someone just a few feet away brought their hands up to their face. The girl looked at them quizzically as ash-like particles emitted from them. She looked up to her friends in confusion before falling forwards. When her body hit the ground, she evaporated into thousands of dust-like particles. The people around her screamed in panic.

_Danger! Danger! Danger!_ The spidersense screeched louder.

What was happening? What was wrong?

People were screaming. People were crying. There was panic. The hallways were filled with dust. No one knew what was happening. Peter took a breath. He was okay. He'd figure this out. He just needed to breathe. He needed to go outside.

Outside was no different. It was more chaotic than inside the school. The sound of car alarms overwhelmed Peter senses. One car was crashed into a nearby lamp post with no driver inside the vehicle. Others were running to aid those stuck inside a bus after the driver had vanished and the vehicle swerved into the side of a building. People were running around in panic. And screaming. There was so much screaming.

Ash filled the air and it dawned on Peter. Those were people. Those floating grey particles were living, breathing, human beings. Peter felt sick to the stomach. People were now dust. Ned was dust. What was happening? Were they dead? They couldn't be dead. People didn't just disappear. That's not how the body worked. The human body was made of thousands of cells. Those cells couldn't turn to ash. And if they could, it would take years for that to happen. This just had to be a bad dream. A really bad dream.

Peter tried to convince himself of that. Tried to force himself awake. He knew it wasn't a dream though. He knew this was real. Peter was aware that he was wide awake. Shoving his hand into his pocket, Peter fumbled for his phone. He almost dropped it in his panic but still manage to open the device and call Happy. When the phone went to voicemail he almost vomited. Was Happy ash? Was May ash? Had everyone he'd ever known just crumbled to dust never to return.

For the next hour, Peter would continuously call Ned, Happy, May, MJ, Betty, and even Flash. No one picked up. Then, at 12:15 pm, when the school had been deserted and the chaos on the street was yet to die down, Peter's screen lit up. He almost cried with relief when he read the name.

Happy was calling him.


	2. Rain Clouds That Won't Cry

**~O~**

**Chapter 2**

**Rain Clouds That Won't Cry**

**~O~**

**Everything's confusing until it's not. Then it's just grey.**

* * *

Happy was in the middle of a conference call when it all happened. As it had become accustomed, when the United Nations could not contact one Tony Stark, they would go to Happy Hogan.

"You need to find him immediately!" Ross screamed down the line. "We are dealing with an international crisis. We cannot afford to have one of the United States most powerful pieces of weaponry missing in space."

The other men that sat at the holographic table agreed.

"As I said before," Happy suppressed the urge to yell back, "Tony has left the Earth's atmosphere. His suits are beyond the reach of any Stark satellites. Even if was my job to get you his location, I am unable to so."

"It is your job." One of the suited men replied, "You're head of security."

"Head of Stark Industries' security. Not of America's, and not of the worlds. And last I remember, since the Sokovia Accords have been under revision you have no jurisdiction over the Iron Man suits."

"Well-" Ross cut himself off.

At first, Happy had assumed it to be static. Distorted images from holographic displays, while far from common, were not unheard of. Major disturbances in the signal could cause such a thing. After working with Tony Stark for the last decade, Happy was very used to large disturbances of any kind. It became apparent, however, that this wasn't a signal issue when one of the government officials held up his crumbling arms. He quizzically studied the particles before the rest of his body followed suit. His evaporating body crashing to the ground was met by the cries of surprise from the other seven men.

Happy looked to the pair of assistants that were running the conference. He met the eyes of a young males intern. The barely twenty-one-year-old look to Happy confused before crumbling away and disappearing into dust. The girl next to him shrieked.

Looking back to the display, the head of security noticed that three others—including General Ross—had all followed suit. He looked to the females assistant, her eyes filled with sudden tears and her hands covering her horrified mouth.

"What just…" He asked to no one but himself.

They just… disappeared. That wasn't supposed to happen. People didn't crumble to dust and vanish. Right? How on Earth had that happened? Did Tony have something to do with this? He had heard something was happening in Wakanda. Was that linked to what had just happened?

So many things were buzzing around Happy's head for him to truly realise the horror of the situation.

* * *

As Peter picked up the phone he silently begged that it was Happy. Not someone else who was informing calling to let him know Happy had also vanished.

"H-Happy?"

"_Oh thank god._" Came the response from down the line.

A weight lifted from Peter's shoulders. He wasn't completely alone, that was a relief.

"Happy, what's happening?"

"_I don't know,_" Happy responded immediately as if he'd prepared for the question. "_I've just got off the phone with Pepper, she says that as soon as I pick you up I'm needed upstate. I'm taking you with me, okay?_"

"Alright," Happy's calm tone help Peter relax. If Happy wasn't freaking out then it meant that whatever had happened wasn't too bad. "I'm still at school."

"_I'm not sure how long it'll take me to get to you. The traffic's atrocious, even with F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s quickest routes. I might be another half an hour._"

"I can start walking towards you."

"_Don't. It's too dangerous with all the crashes that have happened—shit._" the squeal of breaks broke through the phone's speakers, "_Just stay where you are. Is May at work?_"

"I don't know." Once again, Peter had to fight the panic off. "I called her mobile and the hospital but no one's answered."

Ragged breathes climbed into Peter's lungs. What if May was gone too? Had she disappeared like everyone else? What would he do? He needed May. She was all he had left.

"Wha-"

Happy cut Peter off. "_Just don't think about it._" Fear crept along the edges of Happy's voice. "_I'll be there as soon as I can. We'll figure this out, I promise. Just try to stay calm._"

Even though Happy would not see it, Peter nodded. "Okay." He said with a shaky breath.

"_I have to make a few other calls. I'll let you know if anything else happens._"

The call ended and Peter was left with his thoughts.

* * *

"We lost."

Pepper Potts had known Steve Rodgers for many years. For the past year, she hadn't been his biggest fan—especially after what happened in Siberia—but she still held hope that he was a good man. The Steve Rodgers she knew, the one that had worked with her fiancé, was a man who was both physically and mentally strong. He was everyone's rock. Never would Pepper imagine seeing him fall.

That was why seeing Captain America so broken was devastating.

"We were so close, but we still lost." The man wouldn't meet Pepper's eyes.

Sitting at a round table in the Avengers Compound, Steve stared off into some distant land. Perhaps he was reliving the final moments of the battle. The moments were Thanos snapped his fingers and then vanished to an unknown world.

"Can we get everyone back?" There was no hesitation nor uncertainty in Pepper's voice.

Steve took a deep breath and bought his hands to his face. Guilt and sorrow engulfed his entire composure—a stark contrast to Pepper's.

For the first time in hours, Steve turned and looked directly into Pepper's eyes. "I don't know."

* * *

When Happy finally made it through the chaos of Queens, Peter had been waiting for fifty-minutes. In that time, he had searched the web for information. It appeared that everyone was just as clueless as he was. He had tried to call Ned and MJ multiple times, even though he knew it was useless.

Uncharacteristically, Happy asked Peter to sit in the passenger seat. The long drive to the Avengers Compound was mostly silent. Peter did his best to ignore the constant glances Happy sent him. Though he didn't sound it over the phone, Happy was just as confused and scared as Peter was. It was easy to tell from the man's eyes.

When they eventually escaped the city, Happy floored it. The initial jump of speed had Peter almost falling out of his seat. He strapped his seatbelt in before Happy could ask.

"We were supposed to meet Pepper half an hour ago. And I'm sure Tony will cover any fines I cop."

Peter nodded, trusting that Happy knew what he was doing.

With Happy's driving and the deserted rural roads, the forty-five-minute trip became a twenty-minute one. The Compound, unlike the last time Peter had been there, was not full of buzzing life. Government agents were not walking in and out of doors. No representative of the press was banging on doors demanding interviews. There was no evidence that this facility had once been full of life.

The situation continued to feel more real for Peter. When he'd been standing in the school hallways a few hours before, nothing seemed real. Looking back, he was disconnected from the scene. Maybe that's why he hadn't done anything. Maybe that's why he had been so useless.

Deep down Peter knew that wasn't the case.

It made him feel better to think that way, though.

"Where is everyone?" Peter asked when he and Happy left the vehicle.

"Home, I assume." Happy responded firmly. Once again, he was doing his best to remain composed. "That or…"

Neither of them wanted the sentence to be finished.

"Happy!"

Both Peter and the aforementioned man turned to Pepper Potts. Her hair was immaculate, her suit a reflection of perfection. The only thing that hinted the true despair she felt was the look in her eyes.

"Tell me you know what's going on." Happy desperately demanded.

Coloured drained from Pepper's face. She had prepared what she was going to say, but couldn't bring herself to form the words.

"I-" Her gaze drifted from Happy to the young man standing next to him. "You're-"

"Peter." He responded quickly.

"Right." Pepper looked at Peter with a whimsical gaze. She found it hard to believe that someone so young was Spiderman. "Tony's told me about you."

For some reason, Peter was surprised by this. "He has?"

Pepper returned to Happy. "I think-" She took a breath. "I think it would be best if Steve told you."

"He's here?"

"Yes. The others too."

Peter switched his gaze between the two. Steve? As in Steve Rodgers? And the others. Were those the other 'rogue' Avengers? For some reason, this made Peter's heart sink. What had happened had been on the Avengers radar. Had they not been able to stop whatever had happened?

"You come too, Peter."

The teenager nodded and followed Pepper and Happy.

He was led into a large room with an equally large table. Sitting at that table were two fugitives, a god from another world, and a dead scientist. Peter stared in wonder at the four Avengers in front of him. They didn't display the awe Peter had expected. Instead, they looked lost. Desperate. Broken. Peter felt his heart sink. If the Avengers were this lost, how was he supposed to act?

"Happy." Came the voice of Captain America. It wasn't the commanding voice Peter heard in the PSA's. Nor was the one he's heard in Germany.

The Captains gaze fell to Peter. "Who's this?"

Peter wanted to introduce himself but felt the urge to shrink away when all eyes fell on him. Natasha Romanoff—the Black Widow—eyed him, and Bruce Banner—someone who had been declared dead years ago—looked over him quizzically. Thor sat in the corner gazing out the large floor to ceiling window. He knew he'd met the Avengers before. But he'd had his mask on then. For some reason that made all the difference.

"This is Peter." Happy answered when he noticed Peter's sudden lack of words. "He's with me."

Steve looked to Pepper silently asking if she wanted the kid in the room.

"He's fine," Pepper answered. "He can stay."

"What happened?" Happy suppressed the pent up anger he had towards Steve. He needed to know what the situation was, and what he needed to do to fix it.

Steve and Nat's eyes met. Natasha took a breath and looked at Happy.

"Have you ever heard of Infinity Stones?"

* * *

Later Peter would find himself sitting on the edge of a balcony staring off into the sunset. The Avengers… had lost. Peter didn't truly know how he felt about this revelation.

It had taken the four Avengers an hour to explain the full story. A crazed alien titan had been travelling the galaxy for years in search of stones that had the power to achieve anything. Thanos had planned to wipe half of the population of the universe from existence. And he had done it. He'd killed billions on Earth, and trillions across the galaxy.

May, Ned, and MJ. They were all dead.

Tears prickled at the edges of Peter's eyes. He tried to believe that this entire situation was just one, very long, dream. But it wasn't. No matter how many times Peter pinched his arm, and splashed cold water in his face, he wouldn't wake up. This was reality, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Everyone was gone. Just like that. Ned had been right behind him. MJ just a few rooms over. And May treating a patient. In a fraction of a second everyone he had ever loved was gone. And he had done nothing. He had stood there as people crumbled to ash before his eyes. He had stood shocked at the chaos around him. Peter hadn't even attempted to save anyone. He knew it was going to happen before it did—he Spidersense made sure of that. But he just stood there. And now everyone was dead because of it.

He tried his best to keep his grief at bay. The Avengers were doing everything they could to bring everyone back, and Peter would help wherever he could.

Right now the Avengers were inside trying to locate Tony Stark.

"_The fact is that we have no information on what he was even planning._" When Peter strained his hearing he could listen to the conversation that was happening two floors below. The Black Widows voice sounded again. "_All we have is what Tony said to Pepper before he left Earth's atmosphere._"

"_What about that guy who was with him?_" Bruce asked. "_There was someone else chasing the aliens with Tony. I'm pretty sure he went up with Tony._"

"_Who?_" That was Steve Rodgers.

"_Was in a red suit. Had some string stuff coming out of his wrist._"

Peter paled.

"_Spiderman?_"

"_Do we know if he came back to Earth?_" Natasha asked. "_If we can get in contact with him then maybe he can tell us what Tony was planning._"

"_That's assuming he's even still alive._"

The conversation went silent after Steve's final comment.

Peter was torn. Several months ago, Tony Stark had made it very clear that the other Avengers were not to know who Spiderman was. Happy had reminded him of this as earlier. But if he told the Avengers who he was, could he help?

Peter didn't know much. He didn't know what Tony Stark had been planning. And he knew nothing about the Aliens. All he knew was that he was supposed to protect the wizard. He had heard the wizard man say something about 'removing a dead's man spell being troublesome'. He hadn't heard much—he'd been occupied fighting off a large alien—but maybe it would be of some use.

Peter knew he could help. He knew he should help. But Tony Stark had trusted Peter with many things—many things that he'd failed to live up to. Could Peter risk disappointing the man by breaking the rule that was perhaps the easiest to keep to?

The internal struggle would continue for hours.

Peter knew that Happy was approaching long before he opened the balcony doors. The Head of Stark Security just looked at Peter for a moment. The boy had his backed turned to him as he sat on the railing, his legs dangling over the edge of the balcony.

"You should get down from there. Have something to eat."

Peter nodded. He didn't want to move but hunger had been clawing at his insides for the past half an hour.

As Peter walked inside Happy grabbed his shoulder. "Don't worry. The Avengers will figure this out."

Peter nodded and wondered whether he would even be any help if he told the Avengers he was Spiderman. He hadn't been able to do anything when the Decimation had happened, why would that have changed now?

* * *

Natasha Romanoff watched Happy and Peter from the shadows. The boy hadn't said much—something she felt was out of character—but she knew she had met him before. A quick search in Stark's file brought up the boy's basic information. When she tried to find more, access was denied. She had even tried using Pepper's profile, but received the same results.

Something was up about the kid, and Natasha was going to find out what it was.

* * *

**Sorry this took so long to get up. I did have most of the fic written but after some feedback I got from the previous chapter I decided to rewrite the whole thing. This was a bit longer than what I hoped for but it's a lot better than the older version.**

**In other news, I'm looking for a beta. I have a few guidelines though.**

**-You must be fluent in English**

**-You must have experience in editing or have been a beta before**

**-You have published to this or another publishing site (this isn't a requirement but it will help)**

**If you're interested, hit me up at . I'll give you a sample to beta and we'll go from there.**

**Thanks for reading! The next chapter should be up in a week.**


	3. Blue Ink and Clear Tears

**I don't really have much of a reason for not updating...**

**I know this is really short but I'm planning for the next one to be a lot longer. And I promise to do my best and not take 4 months to update again.**

* * *

The equations in front of Peter didn't make much sense to his sleep-deprived brain. Peter knew he should be able to answer the question with ease. It was simple seventh-grade algebra. He just had to rearrange the equation. It wasn't too difficult. Yet, the numbers made little sense, and the letters were foreign. He would carry a number from one side of the equation to the other and somehow end up with another term.

Happy had said Peter should stop and get rest.

Peter had disagreed.

For the time being, Peter sat at an oversized desk. The oak cost more than his apartment and was so large he would never use it all. Peter appreciated its beauty, though. As he ran his hand along the legs, he could feel creases and bumps unnoticeable to the naked eye—the telltale sign of handmade furniture.

Peter didn't understand why there was still beauty when the world around him was falling apart.

Cursing himself, Peter returned to the equations. He wasn't to think about that. The Avengers were sorting the problem out. It would all be over soon enough. Everything would be back to normal.

But what if it isn't?

What if the Avengers couldn't bring everyone back? What if his family and friends never returned? What would he do? May, Ned, and MJ were all he had. He wouldn't be able to live without them.

The snap of his pen and ink flooding over his hand woke Peter from his thoughts. He cursed under his breath, moving to stop the blue ink from spilling onto the desk. Tears began forming in Peter's peripheral as he made his way to the bathroom. They trailed down his cheeks as he attempted to wash the blue from his hand.

What was he going to do? Peter had known there was danger before everyone had disappeared. His Spidersense gave him a warning that no one else had, and he had done nothing. Yet, he stood unmoving as Ned disappeared; he didn't rush to help the passengers of crashed cars after he escaped school grounds and didn't speak to the Avengers when he had the chance to. All along Peter had done nothing.

_Look, when you can do the things I can do, but you don't… and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you. _

Even though he couldn't have done anything to stop people from disappearing, Peter could have at least tried. But he hadn't. And now his family were dead.

With the tap still running, and his hands stained blue, Peter leant against the white bathroom wall and sunk to the ground. Tears flowed down his cheeks as silent sobs wracked his body.


End file.
